I was commissioned to do a wedding cake with a carnival theme. My first impression it must have bright primary colors, like a funfare. The client e-mailed a few photos to have some ideas what were in their mind. Some of the photos shows more like a children party cake. I wanted to do something that colorful, yet it also looks like a wedding cake.
A few sketches been e-mailed to the client and there’s a few minor amendmends need to be done. There should be no floral motifs or curlie shapes on the cake.
Eventually, I finalized the sketches and basically was satisfied with the outcome.
During the decorating process, I have to made a few more minor adjustment. To make it more elegant I added edible gold dust and painted on sheen colors on a few areas to enhance the overall look of the cake.
The dress code for the guest were black and white.
This cake was for my nephew’s engagement, my elder brother’s son, the function was held in Taiping, the distance 258km, around 3 hours drive from Kota Damansara. My sister, her two daughters and I, go into one car and supposed to met my brother at Taiping at a specific designated area.
We reached earlier at the meeting place, I suspected my niece drove the car more than the speed limit, but as usual she would not admit it.
We decided to go to the Changkat Jering wet market. You just imagined, we were properly dressed for a function went to the wet market?? Fortunately we brought extra flat shoes. When we entered the wet market, I felt a few eyes were “fixed” onto us, or I just imagined it? (there’s a Malay word call “perasan”). Since my nieces seldom go to the wet market, they were very excited.
There’s an array of traditional malay kuih and it must be very tasty by just looking and the aromas of the kuih especially the “cakoi” in the kuali was invigorating. We reached one area that sells sort like stonewares and tinwares. My niece pointed at the mortar (lesung batu) which is small in size and very cute. She asked whether my sister wanted to buy it. My sister informed she had bought it but its a bigger size. The seller thought we were discussing about what the mortar used for. The way he treated us like we were “jakuns”, he said with an annoying intonation, “ Hang tau tak ini apa? Ini la blender traditional”. (Do you know what is this? This is a traditional blender), while holding the mortar.
We went to the dried fish area, the ikan bilis were very good quality, at the vegetable area the pucuk paku (special type of edible ferns) was “enam kupang” (RM 0.60 sen) per bundle, at Lembah Kelang the price will be twice than that. We also bought a few kilos of Ciku and Mempelam (Mango). Basically, we really enjoyed shopping at the wet market and the car boot was quite full with our unplanned shopping spree.
Back to the cake, this hantaran cake consisted of chocolate cake with chocolate ganache and covered with chocolate fondant. I have to check it several times in the car boot to ensure its still in good condition and the chocolate fondant does not melt.
When everybody (other relatives on my sister-in law’s side) had gathered, we proceeded to the girl’s side. I asked my niece to carry the cake. She’s complained it was heavy, I try to convince her to just hold it for a while and she was very relieved when it was placed at the hall area of the girl’s side.
After placing the cake at the hall area, at one glance it really look like a real Hermes Birkin bag!!!!. After the discussion between the girl’s side and my brother ended, my brother started to introduce us to the other party. My brother informed to the other party I’m the one who do the bag cake. They were impressed, especially one of the them ( I guessed it must be the uncle on the girl’s side). We ended up discussing on the cake, he said the cake bag have such a good details on it. He started to point at the back of the bag and the strings through the front with the lock and the crocodile textures on the cake.........A very observant man.
This order had been postponed for soo many times. The lady who ordered the cookies had twice confirmed the date, however had to be cancelled because her baby had to be hospitalized due to illness. Eventually, the baby was getting better and she managed to confirm the order. These cookies were token for guest during the potong jambul and aqiqah ceremony.
Cookies individually pack and ready to be delivered
The Cake Competition was held in September 2011. I don't know why I've forgotten to put into this blog. My submission piece was very "lame". At first, I informed the organizer there's a possibilities I won't be submitting my piece because my beloved mum had just past away, that was one week before the competition, by then I've completed only 25% of the competition piece.
However, I was informed by the organizer many participants had pulled-out due to unforeseen reasons. So, the organizer persuaded me to bring the piece to the competition venue.
Usually Valentine Cookies the design would be very simple and usually red in color. I can't do a lot of details due to the demand on that particular week. However, I received a special order from an embassy requesting a special design which is very time consuming and a lot of detail works. At first, I declined the order due to time constraint and informed I won't be able to deliver before 14 February. Thought it was over and done with, I received a call from the embassy again and they informed they don't mind if I delivered before 20 February and also they agreed on the price I quoted.
I was requested by a lady to do a "hantaran" in the shape of a tennis bag. Initially, I was quite skeptical, this was out of the ordinary. Later, I've been told the groom played tennis and she wanted to give something different. First and foremost, none of my family members play tennis, so I have no idea how does a tennis bag look like.
The client e-mailed a photo of the bag and specified the color she wanted. Since the photo in 2D, I've to figure out how it's look like in 3D. I browsed through the internet and indirectly I acquired other knowledge on tennis. The second problem was that I've to scale it down to a 14 inches board. I have to make sure the dimensions were right, if not the tennis bag will look stumpy and weird, sketches upon sketches, until I'm satisfied and confident with the measurements.
This wedding was held at Tabung Haji Kelana Jaya, apparently Tabung Haji is now aggressively promoting their 2 halls for functions , and other rooms for training purposes. I have been informed Tabung Haji had just started promoting it this year and in fact there's a new department been created to take care of this premises. They have several packages been offered. I also visited the other function room which is well equip with a stage. Actually , my sister-in-law work in Tabung Haji and she's one of the pioneer in this new department.
This cake was for my sister-in-law's colleague, also one of Tabung Haji's staff. I was not feeling well that morning because might be due to the food I've been taken last night, in fact I've been attending to three consecutive nights to my friend's Chinese New Year celebration. I've been visiting the toilet for several times after my stomach felt uncomfortable, my body started to sweat profusely, felt like I'm going to throw-out. But thank God, it does not happen, if not my body will produce an "undesirable" odor, not even my Coco Chanel no 5 can safe the day. As I walk out the toilet, my nostril started to notice a smell that calmed me down....the aroma of chicken kurma!!.
By then, my sister-in-law had already arranged the cake accordingly.
This Ultraman cake was for a five years old boy, a very talkative and hyperactive child, yet very adorable. His father said he insisted on Ultraman cake for his birthday. Due to time constraint, I made chocolate cake with an Ultraman toys tucked beside the cake. His father informed me his child like it and the cake was very delicious. One day I met this boy in his father's office. He saw me and ran towards me saying that he loved the cake and next year he wanted the Ultraman burst out from the cake!!!!..."Makcik boleh buat kan?" (You can do it, right?).
